BACKGROUND: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is increasingly treated with procedures. However, there is a lack of relevant systematic evaluation articles. Therefore, this study aims to explore the research landscape of PTC thermal ablation through bibliometric analysis. METHODS: We searched publications related to PTC thermal ablation therapy from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2023, from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Subsequently, bibliometric analyses were then performed using the R package "bibliometrix", as well as VOSviewer and CiteSpace software, to visualize data on countries, institutions, journals, authors, keywords, and references. RESULTS: A total of 283 publications from 17 countries were retrieved, and the number of publications had shown a steady increase over the past decade, with China, the USA and South Korea being the top three contributing countries. The Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital was the most prolific institution, with the being the most frequent publisher. The author with the highest number of publications was Yukun Luo. "Radiofrequency ablation" was identified as the most commonly used keyword, indicating a potential research hotspot for the future. CONCLUSIONS: This bibliometric study comprehensively analyzed publications on PTC thermal ablation, providing valuable insights into the history and current status of this research field, while also offering guidance for future research directions.